Station building | Delft

Monumental station building regains its place in Spoorzone Delft

Delft's station area has undergone a major overhaul in recent years. The station and railroad viaduct made way for an underground station and railroad tunnel. A new city office with station hall arose above ground. Among all this "modern violence," the old station building stood forlorn for a long time. Meanwhile, the monumental building, in a new function, has regained its place in the area.

Two committed developers took charge of the old station building and gave it a new purpose. The first floor has been transformed into a restaurant, wine bar and ice cream parlor. The old platform serves as a terrace. The specially developed canopy, consisting of curved steel trusses with glass in between, is very reminiscent of a platform roof. The garden, including Corten steel, rails and split, also refers to the building's train past. On the first floor, once intended for service apartments, light work spaces are realized.  

Respectful design
The design of the renovated station building is by Braaksma & Roos Architectenbureau. The execution is in the hands of Du Prie construction & development, a medium-sized construction company with extensive experience in renovations and restorations. "The design shows great respect for the monument," says Du Prie project manager Fred van der Hoorn. "The architect brought original elements, such as the gable frames with sash windows, back into the building. The woodwork on the exterior facade was also given its original colors: dark brown with red details." 

Start of work
Work began in early 2018. First, Du Prie brought the building back to its shell on the inside. In the process, original building materials and important components were secured. After demolition, Du Prie performed a number of structural interventions, such as floor reinforcements at new stairwells. Van der Hoorn: "An important point of attention was the separation between catering and offices. Above the pizza ovens, for example, we installed a screen that blocks the smells and sounds from the first floor." 

Craft and innovation
On the exterior, Du Prie restored the roofs, gutters and some of the masonry. The construction company also produced and restored about a hundred facade frames in a variety of shapes and sizes. "All handwork," says Van der Hoorn. "For the dimensions of the window frames, we used the 3D point cloud we had made of the building. Nice to see how craft and innovation came together here."

Finish
"Inside, we took care of the complete finishing," Van der Hoorn continues. "We installed walls and ceilings, we repaired the decorative stucco in the ceiling and we replaced the installations. We also built a new core, consisting of a stairwell with central hall and toilets for the offices. From the office floors, where it was a maze of rooms, we made loft-like spaces. Furthermore, we realized facade openings for daylighting, we refurbished the wooden beams and we applied a wood wool magnesite floor. This screed is eight times lighter than a sand-cement floor."

Proud
In addition to technical feats, such as the large number of façade frames and the custom-made steel canopy, Du Prie had to deal with a very tight schedule and the complex location right in the center. Van der Hoorn: "Inner-city construction is inherent to restorations like this and requires the necessary logistical attention. For example, we agreed with the municipality which roads we could use. We also arranged for a central parking lot and had everything delivered just-in-time. We can now look back on a project that went smoothly and a final result that the entire team is proud of."